Darker On The Outside
by Little Miss Winter Mischief
Summary: Slight AU. This is a few years after Jack became a guardian, or could have been. This is a few years after Jack became best friends with Jamie, or would have been. This is a few years after Jack almost shared a kiss with Tooth, or should have. All of this didn't happen because of a fatal blow sent from Pitch. Not a death fic. Cover by Minomotu on deviantART
1. Chapter One: Getting To Know People

Jack groaned and stretched. Another day of frights I guess, he thought sleepily as he grinned. It was early in the morning and he liked to wake up that way, though he didn't know why. It wasn't like he had anything to do after all; it was just him helping Pitch out with things here and there, nothing special. He sat up and swung his legs a bit before getting off the bed. The teen slowly moved to the mirror facing his bed. Facing him was a seventeen-year old boy with a black hoodie, brown pants torn at the bottom, messy black hair, yellow eyes, pale skin, and teeth that seemed to glitter to Jack's utter annoyance. He tried not brushing his teeth for a few days but all that got him was a glare from Pitch and a really bad breath.

He walked into his bathroom and brushed his teeth and took a bath. After that, he put a towel around his waist and dried his hair with another. Jack looked at his reflection again and tilted his head slightly. His teeth looked very different from the rest of them, like the rest paired up and his teeth were left as loners to be forever different. Weird.

"Hey, Pitch. Are you awake?" No response. Jack was a bit surprised by that, Pitch was usually up by now, or most of the time he was awake before him. But he just shrugged it off, nothing to worry about really.

Jack went back to his room and got his staff**–**instantly feeling the incredible powers of winter and nightmares slide up his arm and to the rest of his body**–**and got on his clothes. Then he walked to the main part of the lair ready to leave…for who knows what. Pitch usually told him what to do, no, Pitch _always_ told him what to do. There wasn't a day he had a choice of what he did since…a blinding throb came to the side of his forehead, and he stumbled to the side trying to use his staff for support, the pain worse than a headache. It always happened when he tried to remember something from before the day he woke up in Pitch's lair, but he always dismissed it, thinking that it was just because he didn't have enough memories.

"Pitch!" He winced at the pain still there in his head and spoke in a now normal speaking voice but a bit near yelling. "You're supposed to be awake now!" He heard a soft groan echo through the lair and smiled softly. He was finally awake. Jack turned around and walked to Pitch's room which was more on the border of an apartment than a room.

The teen laid back on the door entrance way, waiting for the man to wake.

"Any day now Pitch. It's been a while." Jack taunted in a sing-song voice. Pitch got up from his bed dressed in night clothes similar to his day clothes; day clothes Jack called a dress, the night clothes were more or less exactly like it but not so dress like and tank-top looking.

"I never remembered you speaking out of turn like that," Jack nearly flinched. Pitch never did like Jack doing things out of turn. He usually only gave him a glare and the spirit would shrugged it off but there were other times where he would do something completely random, only for fun, and he would get in serious trouble for it.

Pitch finished his sentence though, definitely sensing the fear coming from Jack, even though it was small.

"It's fine though, we'll just have to work on it later." And with that Pitch got up and into his bathroom, leaving Jack shocked. Pitch never said something like that so what was going on, what was going to happen? He shook it off and went back to the main part of the lair, thinking about going up one of the stairs and exploring. He actually almost did before Pitch came in and waved him to the spot which they usually used to leave. Jack came over to him and waited until Pitch shadow traveled away. The teen flew upward quickly through the hole in the ceiling that also served as an exit and looked around.

It was a good fall day, not too cold not too hot, but it felt a bit too hot for him. _"There's no time to worry about the heat. It is time for you to do your job. It's the usual today." _Pitch said. His voice rang in Jack's head and it didn't bother him. He was very use to it by now and he already knew what the usual was, so he flew down the streets, looking for a few kids that were lingering around, swinging his staff every once in a while. There were two kids there, walking and clearly discussing something. He flew down to them and walked behind them, wanting to figure out what they were talking about.

"There is _no way _Bigfoot is real!" The blonde one said. The one to his right—a brown haired kid—mockingly laughed.

"Yeah, because all of the people that saw him were _definitely faking _it!"

"Of course they were! They even once said that some dude dressed up just to get some popularity!"

"That was just one dude!"

"There could have been more people that were just as weird as that one."

"That makes total sense Monty, about four thousand people just dressed up for the heck of it. Just admit it, they're real!"

"But their footprints look almost exactly like a bear's!"

"_Almost_! So it might be some sort of hybrid of a bear, or maybe a cross between a gorilla _and _a bear!" At the brown haired one's comment, the blonde looked at him strangely, like he grew an extra head.

"Think of the science Jamie! There's—" Jack stopped listening to their actually funny discussion and stumbled into a small pile of leaves with another spell of pain in his head, his staff now useless as it rolled away. What made it happen this time? He stayed there for a while until it was near bearable and got up with the help of the winds, it already knowing to bring him above the city and taking his staff with, where could see what to do next.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Today was actually pretty good for Jack, other than the run in with the two boys. He would have to avoid them until he knew what was happening. He scared no less than five of them and gave a few a good shiver with his winter powers, it wasn't bad for a person that couldn't be seen by anyone.

Jack walked through the woods toward the little hole that led to the lair. He never thought much about the woods or how he instantly knew it so well, only that this way led to Pitch's lair and everywhere else was a no go. He jumped through the hole and landed gracefully on his feet. Again, there was nothing for him to do, what was Pitch gaining by making Jack this bored? He never actually did things on his own at all other than the basics and anything that involved creativity…well; let's say it wasn't something he had much experience in.

Trying something new, he went up one of the stairs he saw earlier and gasped. He was upside down! He kept moving around to find himself standing on a stair that ran along a wall. He gave a small laugh and clasped his hands onto his mouth, before letting go and allowing a laugh to come out. That was new to the teen. He never laughed much, heck, he didn't laugh at all in this place. It was either smiles, smirks or nothing else but he was actually laughing this time.

In a whoosh of wind he was back on the ground and ready to have Pitch come in and tell him what to do. He was shaking badly but he didn't know why, it was the laugh that he did earlier possibly. It had a familiar feeling in some ways but freaked him out in every other so he gripped his staff tighter. He walked slowly to his own room and sat down on his bed to think the day over. A total waste, Jack thought irritably. Nothing but a total waste with a major headache on the side. Maybe Pitch will help me understand what's going on when he comes back and I can just go back and live the day like I use to.

With that nice thought, he fell into a dreamless sleep, just like usual.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Jamie and Monty were in the middle of a Bigfoot discussion, the seventh one this month, and it was really heating up.

"But their footprints look almost exactly like a bear's!" Monty said waving his arms angrily. Jamie smirked at Monty's comment. He was in a dead end trap.

"_Almost_! So it might be some sort of hybrid of a bear, or maybe a cross between a gorilla _and _a bear!" But it wasn't a dead end, or it could have been if Jamie didn't bring that up. Monty looked at him weirdly and continued.

"Think of the science Jamie! There's all sorts of things that wouldn't let that happen like—" Monty would have continued if Jamie didn't snap his head back to a pile of leaves that seemingly had nothing there.

Everyone—even Monty and almost all the other kids that were there on that faithful day—would have said nothing was there, but not Jamie. Cupcake and his little sister Sophie were holding strong on this but they would slip up every once in a while. Not every person that saw Jack Frost saw him anymore because they didn't believe anymore. It was probably because no one saw him around Burgess anymore so they went back to thinking he was a myth. Well, let's just say Jack wasn't very fond of being a myth.

"Jack?" Jamie whispered quietly. Monty looked at him oddly once again and Jamie looked back at Monty.

"Jamie…you okay?"

"Huh?...Oh, yeah I'm okay. But Bigfoot is seriously real." They continued the debate and every once in a while Jamie would look back to see Jack sitting there and Monty would give him a confused look and Jamie would tell him everything was fine. Finally, after all this while, he found Jack Frost.

They went to their own homes and Jamie rushed into his room and grabbed the home phone that was so horribly placed in his room. He was twelve now and things were different but incredibly the same in relationships, so his mom thought there was nothing to worry about. Sure, if that didn't include fear running rampant every now and then and Jamie helping out the Guardians every so often.

He dialed the numbers quickly and waited for the person on the other end to pick up. Come on! Jamie thought quickly. It's not that hard to pick up a phone, just—oh finally, they answered!

"Hey, Jamie? Is this you?"

"Yeah, of course it's me Cupcake. What, do you think, Sophie would have called to talk about bunnies to you? Were you expecting that? Because if you were then I'll just hand the phone over to Sophie." Jamie joked.

Cupcake laughed on the other end and shook her head. Where did his sense of humor come from? Seriously, if I spend too much time with him, Cupcake thought happily. I'll probably have to get something for my ribs! Jamie didn't call people much so it must have been more than just to say a few jokes.

"No, no it's okay. Me and Sophie can talk about bunnies later, so what do you want to talk about?" Jamie almost told her but hesitated. What if she stopped remembering in Jack and the rest of the guardians and thought he was being very childish so she would just hang up on him? Before he flooded himself with even more questions, he answered quickly.

"I found Jack." Cupcake was silent for a while. Jamie actually thought Cupcake hung up and that his worse fear at the moment was becoming real until Cupcake started to talk again.

"You did? Where? How does he look like? Is he even okay? Can I—" Jamie started to laugh a little out of relief and humor.

"You're starting to sound a lot like Tooth sometimes, do you know that?"

"And you're starting to sound a lot like Jack, do _you _know that?" They ended up laughing and Cupcake went back to her questions.

"So how is he?" Jamie thought about it for a moment and then told her.

"He looks different. His blue hoodie is gone and now he's wearing a black one. His skin looks like its tinted gray and his hair is black. The only things that are regular are his jeans and teeth, Tooth would be happy about the teeth."

"True. How did he change?"

"I don't know. I found him near my house but he's probably left by now. Where do you think he went?"

"He couldn't have just disappeared, that would be so unlike him if he did. What do you think happened?" It was Jamie's turn to stop talking. He actually didn't think about where Jack went or actually where he was. He only thought about the fact that Jack wasn't a myth and he tried to get the rest of his friends to do the same. To sum it up, he wasted all his energy about thinking about Jack Frost only to get a near disaster and to figure out that he actually wasn't thinking about Jack Frost at all.

"I…umm…I don't know."

"Really? I would have thought you of all people would have thought about what happened to him."

"Well I didn't," Jamie said gruffly. "Can we stop talking about this now? Maybe we should call the guardians and tell them. He's in a way their family too."

Cupcake nodded quietly. Jamie would most likely blame himself. And it wouldn't be the first time he would too, probably nine times, if anyone were counting...which she was.

"Alright. You have the snow globe so I'll come over. See you later Jamie."

"Bye Cupcake. See ya later." Cupcake hung up and he put the phone back on its stand. Where did he put the snow globe? He remembered North giving it to him a while back but couldn't remember where he put it.

After a long time of searching he picked up his puffer vest and put it on as something fell to the floor. He looked down and saw that it was the snow globe he was looking for the entire time. Next time when I'm looking for something, I'll start here. And with that thought he went down stairs, told his mom he would be going out, and went out the door to wait for Cupcake and see the Guardians.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

"So, you're tryin' ta tell us that Jack is still 'round?" Bunnymund asked. He asked because no one else could talk, they were too busy gawking.

"Yeah, pretty much. I saw him with my own eyes, and there was the small fact that he might have changed a little bit." Jamie quieted down quite a bit at the last part and rubbed his arm shyly. He didn't know what they were going to say, and he wasn't in the mood to figure out. Actually, at the moment he wanted to figure out how _he _would react. He was at the moment scaring himself with the fact that he wasn't even giving the slightest of emotion during the entire conversation, he only put on the outer appearance that he was a bit scared and shy on the topic.

Tooth's head shot up at Jamie's comment and she looked at Jamie with a somewhat confused face.

"What do you mean?"

Cupcake stepped forward. "Well, his teeth were the same," Tooth almost sighed at that. "But his hair, skin, eyes, and clothes were different."

"How so?" The Russian asked quickly. Jamie looked over in Cupcake's direction, signaling that he would answer this question.

"He's wearing a black hoodie instead of his blue one, so that's something. His hair's black and his skin's tinted a bit grey. His eyes are this weird cat yellow. Oh, and his staff looks darker." Sandman tilted his head for a moment as if to think about this and Cupcake shot him a confused look, as if to ask why hadn't he told her. He shook his head and shrugged as if to say he didn't know what to say.

"Yeah, we don't know what happened either just that he's around and possibly okay." Jamie said quietly. Now he was actually feeling something, downright stupidity. He didn't walk over to Jack and ask him if he was okay and where he's been. No, he just kept talking to Monty about _Bigfoot_ and walked away. In an instant the tall Russian put a hand on Jamie's shoulder and Jamie felt that he could have jumped a few feet in surprise if the giant hand wasn't there.

"It is okay, Jamie. You have done best you could. A for effort in my book! We will look for Jack in Burgess soon as we can, you can help us too, yes?" North looked down at him with hopeful eyes. Hopeful eyes meant that he had to do this or he would just be guilt into doing it. Plus, this was his best friend they were talking about; it would be surprising if Jamie didn't.

"Yeah, I will. You want to join to Cupcake?" She snorted in a somewhat lady-like way.

"What? Do you think I'd just drop out? Of course I am!" All of the guardians perked up considerably now that they had two believers helping them out.

They would finally get Jack back, and it would be even easier with the help of kids that knew the streets so well. How could anything go wrong for these guys? Well, that day couldn't have been a worse day to have said those words.

* * *

A/N: This is my first _actual _story! If you've read my first story then you know updating days can vary from days to weeks and, hopefully not, so on. If you guys are confused about the puffer vest thing, its just the jacket that Jamie wears throughout the whole movie but of course different since he's older and a bit taller now, thinking of making it red...or green...I dunno. And here's something for you to think of for now: **I do not own these characters! They belong to Mr. William Joyce and DreamWorks Animations!**

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With Love and Cookies,

_Snowball_

**Published/Updated on: December 6th 2013**


	2. Chapter Two: Trying New Things

_[Previously: "What? Do you think I'd just drop out? Of course I am!" All of the guardians perked up considerably now that they had two believers helping them out. They would finally get Jack back, and it would be even easier with the help of kids that knew the streets so well. How could anything go wrong for these guys? Well, that day couldn't have been a worse day to have said those words._]

* * *

_Jack walked slowly through the snow looking to the side but not seeing anything. It was snowing lightly but he couldn't see anything and that was scaring him a little but he kept going on through the snow without another thought. He finally came up to a big building that looked as if was a part of the ice around it. He kept walking in and saw two giant furry beings open the door. Again, he had another question: Who or what were these things? He thought about if he ever saw those things and instead of getting a big headache he actually remembered seeing them once…although he didn't know where. It didn't matter to him though, he could actually remember something!_

_Usually he only remembered the things he did at Pitch's place and nothing else but here he was remembering things! Before he could try anything else the furry beings that he still didn't actually know the name of, picked him up and brought him over to the main part of the building._

"_Whoa." He said quietly. There were toys everywhere and he couldn't help but reach a hand up to one and smile. The smile quickly diminished as he remembered what Pitch would think. He would get into huge trouble if the man ever saw what he was doing. Where was Pitch any? He spun around in a full circle and came face to face with a man that he had never seen before. Why was he in this new place anyway? He wanted to be home with Pitch, where he could actually understand things._

"_Umm…where am I exactly…sir?" He added the last part in case the man was a serious authority figure._

"_Jack, you should know where you are. You are at Pole; you come here lots of times, no?" He was Russian; he didn't know how he could know that and where he remembered it but he knew now. That was good, right? _

"_Huh?" Was his only response. He couldn't remember this place, and he was fairly sure he would remember a place like this!_

"_Come Jack, you must take look around. It has been long time friend." The man used his hand to push Jack along to where he wanted the teen to go. They went past more of the tall furry things and even past things that wore hats for clothes with little jingle bells at the ends. At one point they stopped to go down an elevator and a mirror was placed there, and something didn't seem right about it. Though it was a dream, Jack wanted to look at it and tell the man it was wrong, and it was._

"_Sir, can you tell me what's up with that mirror? I think it might be wrong." He pointed at the mirror and the man looked down at Jack, then the mirror and laughed. He really laughed. _

_Jack's mouth dropped in shock. Man, this place was making him feel like one big idiot. The man laughed at him straight in the face and he didn't even know his name._

"_There is nothing wrong with mirror Jack. Come here and we will talk." The Russian led him down and Jack gave one last glance at the mirror. He had white hair, pale skin with no hints of gray, a blue hoodie and the same jeans and his eyes were lighter. _

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Jack woke up with a start and another one of his great headaches. He rubbed the side of his head with one hand and picked up his staff with the other. Jack couldn't understand why this one was so intense. He couldn't remember what made him have such a bad headache…other than that dream he had. Wait, he had a dream?

That was new.

Trying to remember the dream, he got up and walked out of his room and tried to get some fresh air. Again, he started to feel light headed and used his staff to support his light weight. Jack called on the winds again to take him out and they did, lightly tickling his hair to bring him out of his stupor but it didn't help. It lightly brought him down and he thanked it and started to lean on his staff a bit harder.

Spots were starting to dance in his vision and he was really starting to hope that Pitch would come soon. Then the nightmares would be there to help him out—nightmares! He couldn't believe he had forgotten about the nightmares because they could have helped him out with this tough day greatly. Jack started to wave his hands over the ground with his staff and nightmare sand started to appear in front of him. Finally it came into the form of a lion and he fell onto its back instantly.

The lion purred quietly and started move back to the lair when a voice called out to Jack. He couldn't remember where he heard the voice and was starting to lose his grip on his staff. The pain in his head now became too unbearable, and so he gave a sharp scream and fainted.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Jamie came back from the North Pole with Cupcake then went to his house and straight into his room without a word.

"Jamie, are you okay? You haven't said anything since we left the Pole." Cupcake said quietly. Jamie only mumbled that he was okay and sat on his bed looking at his hands. When was he going to show a single emotion?

"Sure you are. Come on, if it'll help we can walk like you always do," Cupcake said reassuringly. Jamie shot her a confused look as if to ask where she knew that but Cupcake shrugged and went on.

"I know you joined track a while ago, Caleb told me." She started to walk out the door and closed it but Jamie knew that she was waiting there for him. He groaned and got up from his bed and to the door, trying to put on his puffer vest.

Jamie walked down the street with Cupcake talking about how weird seventh grade really was. And really weird it was. Cupcake was taking extra art classes with her thoughts on being an artist and Jamie was thinking about doing football later on. It earned him a long speech from Cupcake on how that was the worst idea on the planet and that he should stop thinking about it instantly. He agreed but only if she stopped drawing and smiled when she said she didn't say anything else.

They turned the corner and came to a bit of a dark street with only various lights working. The wind was whipping haphazardly now, different than the street they just came from. Jamie went in front of Cupcake and walked, little by little, down the street to see what was down there and gasped in shock.

"Jack?" He said loudly. He could see the teen there with some sort of dark figure swarming near him. Now he would not leave him behind, not even close. Jamie ran over to him as quickly as he could, probably faster than he usually did in track. In a matter of moments he was near Jack and slowed down quickly. The dark figure he saw previously was a lion and it seemed to be protecting Jack, but Jamie wasn't in a mood to agree with any nightmare, he wanted to help out his friend. Without thinking, he put his hand on the lion but it didn't change. Cupcake came up next to him and looked at the lion.

"What's up?" She already knew that they could change nightmare sand to regular dream sand; she just didn't understand why it wasn't changing.

"It…uh, wouldn't change. I don't know what happened…" He stopped short when the lion started to rub its head against Jamie's still outstretched hand and growled quietly, like it was trying to purr. Jamie's eyes widened as he looked back to Cupcake. It wouldn't change but it acted just like it should have if it was a dream sand creature.

"Maybe we should take Jack to my house, you know if you want to…" Jamie said to Jack but saw he was already unconscious and lying on the lion's back.

"We'll just take him there anyway. Can't leave him here all alone…but that doesn't mean the lion can't too." Cupcake added quickly as she saw the lion growl as if saying he could easily do this all on his own. Jamie nodded and they walked to Jamie's house, the lion only a few steps behind him.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Jamie sat alone in his room—with Jack Frost lying on the bed quietly—looking out the window. Cupcake had to leave for something at home and he didn't mind but Cupcake kept him from thinking about too much, and she wasn't here, so he was thinking.

The boy still looked out the window and at the crescent moon then looked at Jack. Why didn't the moon try to help him out? Was the moon sort of like a genie where he only helped out once and that was it? Maybe this all wouldn't have to happen if he wasn't so weak and…weak. There was nothing else to say but he was just weak and that everything that was happening to Jack was his fault.

But why did Jack have to suffer for him being so dumb? Why couldn't it have been himself? It was probably too much to ask upon a kid but he was fed up with the world being so unfair sometimes—he started to cry and sat there until he actually noticed he was crying.

"Great. I'm already starting to think like an angst-y teen…and I thought that was Jack's part time job." Jamie muttered quietly as he wiped away his tears. Then he heard a soft groan and some rustling. Jack was finally awake. Jamie got up from his chair and moved over to Jack's side.

Jack looked peaceful until he opened his eyes and shot up into a sitting position, only to lay down again when he winced in pain.

"W-where am I?" Jack said quietly. Jamie blinked back some of confusion and spoke to him.

"Uhh, I thought you'd remember since you came here almost all the time. Well, you're at my house, in my room."

"And you are…?" Now Jamie was hoping and praying with all his might that Jack was just kidding.

"Jack, I'm Jamie." Jack was now sitting up, and he winced while he looked at Jamie, absentmindedly petting his lion.

"Don't you remember me or anyone else?" Jack looked like he was going to say something to answer Jamie's question but hesitated and shook his head.

"What happened Jack? Why did you change?" Now Jack looked completely focused and looked more closely on Jamie.

"What do you mean 'changed'? I've been like this ever since I could remember, so you must have me mixed up with the wrong guy." Jamie almost laughed at what Jack was trying to pull. Any moment now he would rip of the wig and colored contacts, to laugh at how scared the younger boy looked. But he wasn't doing that, actually he was looking blankly at Jamie, and it made the boy anxious.

"Jack stop with the jokes. They're really starting to irritate me."

"I don't know what you're talking about but I need to go—" He almost got up and off the bed but the lion growled and made him sit back down. The boy thought quickly that he should really remember to thank that lion later.

"Great, trapped by my own lion," Jack huffed and crossed his arms. "So, why did you trap me?" He said that so angrily that Jamie moved back a few steps. Jack was definitely more hostile now.

"Trap you? You fainted and I thought it be nice to help a friend out!" Jamie covered his mouth quickly. He was starting to get that Jack didn't remember who he and possibly anyone was so this was not helping. But maybe it wouldn't be so bad—

"I'm not your friend! Stop trying to get in my head and leave me _alone_!" He was wrong. Horribly, horribly, wrong. Jack got up, ignored his lion, and went over to the window. As quickly as he got up he stopped moving and started to sway on his feet before he flew out the window.

Jamie sighed angrily and went to close the window and then flopped onto the bed, only to hear the bed groan with extra weight. He turned around and saw the lion there head resting on his paws.

"Why are you still here? Aren't you supposed to be…I dunno, following Jack or Pitch?" Jamie told the thing then remembered that if it would respond it would either growl or tear him to pieces. But it did a shrug like motion and rested its head back on his paws.

"What the…" Did a nightmare just _shrug _at him? It moved forward, as if not liking the spot it was in, and moved to Jamie's lap. It didn't feel prickly like nightmares usually felt or like it felt earlier but it felt like a mix of nightmare sand and…dream sand.

He looked down and saw it looking up at him with a bored look on his face as if to say, _Thank you so much for being slower than I thought you would be._

"Oh shut up…..Great, I'm talking to myself thanks to you." He felt it start to laugh, or he thought it did, and glared down at it, then started to get a wide grin on his face. Hopefully this plan was foolproof.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

"I'm not your friend! Ugh, stop trying to get in my head and leave me _alone_!" Jack yelled angry at the boy he didn't even know. All he knew that the kid's name was…something that started with a J…and that he was in the kid's house. It was unhinging how calm the other was and how his own lion was against him!

Jack ran to the window quickly and grabbed his staff and stopped. He remembered doing this before…but this was the first time he was ever here and he now hated…James…? Regaining his train of thought, he jumped out the window to have the wind pick him up, far away from that insane place.

The wind tousled his hair playfully as if trying to calm him in any way, but it wasn't working. It only made him even angrier. Quickly he got down and ran the remainder of the way, huffing about the insanity of the past day and even now. I wonder, Jack thought angrily. Why my life has to suck and everyone just gets to come in and make it worse.

He was in front of the hole leading to the lair in minutes, which cooled his anger but only some. Jack jumped down it, with the wind still whipping around him last minute, trying once again in vain to comfort the winter spirit.

"Jack, what took you so long?" Pitch asked as he melted out of the darkness. He looked calm despite the things that happened. It broke Jack instantly and when he touched down, the first thing he did was run straight to him.

"These crazy people tried to freaking kidnap me but—" Jack said quietly, sobbing every so often, but stopped crying—and talking—when Pitch came over and gave him a small hug.

It was a small hug but it meant a lot to Jack because he never got something like it. So he kept talking softly and went on to talk about his day again, hearing Pitch tell him everything was going to be okay.

What he didn't hear were Pitch's silent curses. Pitch was hoping, as daft as it sounded, that the Guardians would stop looking, stop trying to find their youngest member—who might not be a member but Pitch didn't feel like retelling the details at the moment—and give up. Maybe do what they did many years ago and just turn the deaf ear as they said and be quiet about it.

But it didn't happen and they were still looking, apparently needing the kids—who were nearing teen hood—which was starting to scare Jack. And Jack being upset would only lead to trouble, which will be mentioned later in matters unknown.

"It's fine Jack, I will help you. You said something about a dream, will you tell me about it."

Again, Pitch knew this meant something. Sandman of course would have tried to give him some sort of message about who he was or something of that nature and it would ruin everything.

Jack calmed down and looked up for a moment, as if to think about it, but buried his face in the man's robes in a sign of comfort. Pitch sighed quietly and continued to hug him.

"Come on now, Jack. You need your rest." Pitch said in a comforting tone. He led the teen to his room and waited at the doorway when Jack crawled into bed and laid his head on his pillow. He didn't consider moving until he heard soft snores emitting from the now fast asleep teen. It was a very fatherly act and Pitch considered that it had to be done if Jack were to trust him at all. That was in the past now and the charade was almost no longer a charade but he always slipped up and thought about the times before this when Jack was so close to being on the guardians side.

It didn't happen obviously, as the spirit was there in front of him. So he reminded himself in saying a quick good night, hearing a muffled response and then went to bed, certain the guardians would not find Jack Frost.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Jamie finally coaxed the over grown, no good for his own worth, lion out of his room and into the front lawn. He cheered a bit and then watched in agony as the dumb thing laid back down and rested its head on its paws.

"You've got to be kidding me you...!" Jamie tried to threaten but couldn't when it looked up at him like that, something Abby would do when she wanted something. Of course Jamie would always in and he did the same now.

So do we do now, Jamie thought aimlessly. He was honestly just looking for the best thing that came to mind since he forgot what he was going to do minutes ago. It was weird how suddenly he forgot it too.

Finally, he got an idea and turned around to face the lion, that a face of pure irritation. The lion would have to get over it though, this meant serious businesses.

"C'mon, hurry up! I need you to get me to your master!" In a spilt second, the lion's demeanor changed drastically. It was on its feet and very alert, moving to even the faintest of noises.

It shifted a bit then growled quietly, trying to make him come over, and when he did was quickly on the back of a lion. Then it arched its back as if to pounce, and a twirling sensation came. Really, as much as he liked that it wanted to go fast, he was going to hurl. So he clung to the fur for dear life—which he was doing—and waited for it all to stop, which it did.

The lion stood motionless for a moment and waited for Jamie to get off. When it was clear he was probably never going to get up he continued to walk. Here and there he would notice some things, like it was a bit cold, or the ground would always crunch under the lion's feet...or paws. When Jamie got over the feeling that the world was spinning profusely, he looked up and got a face full of snow. Wait...Pitch's lair had _snow_? No, that isn't right, it couldn't be.

He raised his head a bit more and saw the faint outline of a giant building, North's Workshop to be exact. Jamie got up from the lion quickly, ignored the queasiness he felt, and glared at the lion once more.

"You brought me to the North Pole and not where ever the hell Pitch's place is?" The lion looked up lazily and made a motion similar to shrugging. He might as well show him to Sandy if he was still here, which he would be if the lion nightmare brought him here. Jamie shivered violently and looked down at his puffer vest and short sleeved shirt. Not good for Artic weather.

"Aright, we'll go see Sandy." The lion nodded and trotted onward, in almost a happy way. The boy shook his head and continued behind the animal, going forward to get into a warmer place. Because yeesh! Was the North Pole really always this cold!?

* * *

**A/N: **Hey, its finally done! So Jack gets a dream, Pitch gets some new revelations and Jamie gets a plan...and then it fails a bit. So do you guys like the lion? I know he/she needs a name but I want you guys (the reader) to name him/her. I'm on Toby, Lily, Alex, and Harper for the lion. The poll will be set up on my profile and you can also respond through reviews. So here are the reviews I'm gonna respond too!:

**Guest-**Thank you so much for saying that it makes me feel all warm and tingly on the inside from it. Just wished you would've wrote your penname so I could PM you or something. 8)

**Fem-Hawaii-Hokulani-Jones-**Well its here now so your welcome!

**Cat Girl 1995(So you can read her ROTG stories! They're good and have given me lots of** **inspiration)- **Thanks for saying its interesting, I honestly try my hardest on this. And thanks...congrats on your third story!

**DragonSiren7(So you can read _her _stories! Quite the read)- **Thank you for that! I will say, it wont be until the near end until you actually know about Jack's memory loss. Pitch's behavior was explained in this chapter...I think. Well, I can say this story will be more than 20 chapters so huzzah and all that other great stuff!

That's it for this a-okay chapter and lets get the count!

**The count for the day!:**

**Review: **4

**Follows: **11

**Favorites: **2

**Words: **3,970 (This is for every individual chapter)

With Love and Cookies,

_Snowball_

**Updated on: December 14th 2013**


	3. Chapter Three: Bring Out The Blueprints

_[Previously: "You brought me to the North Pole and not where ever the hell Pitch's place is?" The lion looked up lazily and gave a motion very much like shrugging. He might as well show him to Sandy if he was still here, which he would be if the lion nightmare brought him here. Jamie shivered violently and looked down at his puffer vest and short-sleeved shirt. Not good for Arctic weather. "Aright, we'll go see Sandy." The lion nodded and trotted on, in almost a happy way. The boy shook his head and continued behind the animal, going forward to get into a warmer place. Because yeesh! Was the North Pole really always this cold!?]_

* * *

The yeti moved out-of-the-way instantly when they saw Jamie but almost didn't let the nightmare in.

"C-come on guys! J-just let her—Uhh, h-him?—in! It's f-freezing out here." They moved aside quickly now that they saw Jamie shiver, well fake to shiver. Quickly, he ran to the globe room with the lion trotting behind him quickly as he looked for Sandy.

"Do you remember where he is?" The lion nodded and almost sprinted down the hallways, leaving the boy in its dust and making him thank his lucky stars for crazy track teachers. After a few turns, they got to Sandy's room which had a few elves looking for eggnog. Didn't they now by now they weren't going to get any?

Jamie knocked on the door and waited for Sandy to open it. When the man did, he looked quizzically at Jamie then saw the lion that was nudging at his leg with his head as if asking the dream maker to pet his head. A few images popped up but he didn't need to see them to understand what they would say, he was insanely confused.

"We'll explain later or now since there's nothing else to talk about." Jamie said quietly and Sandy ushered them into his room.

If the room were to be described using only a few words, cozy would definitely be it. When he walked in, his eyes drooped a little and he was near to stifling a yawn as he sat into a chair. Even the chair made him sleepy, with the extra cushioning and nutmeg freshly fallen rain smell.

Sandy must have noticed this and clapped his hands a few times, trying to wake up the dosing child.

"Oops, sorry Sandy it's just," Jamie said sleepily and then yawned. Moments later the lion did the same thing. "Your room is so nice." When Jamie finished talking he started to yawn but didn't bother on trying so he just yawned as he pleased. Sandy decided this was a good time to start the conversation before the boy fell asleep so he clapped once more and brought up an arrow, pointing to the lion.

"Oh, he's just a nightmare." Jamie said casually, as if this happened every day. When he saw Sandy's shocked appearance, he got more alert and tried again. "Well, I tried to change him into a dream sand lion...but it didn't work." The lion raised its head slightly and looked at the two. It did _not _look amused with this conversation.

Sandy then made a few more images including in a jumble of thoughts, the lion—who raised up his head quickly when it saw this—and a little boy, but it was obvious who it was for.

"Yeah, I did think nice and warm thoughts and belief. It just didn't work." Jamie looked over at the lion to see what it would do next. Then did a double take as it smirked at him. The audacity of the thing! Jamie looked over and saw Sandy laughing the sight with silent mirth. Obviously, Jamie did the only think he could do, shake his head, crossing his arms and wondering why he wasn't ticked off yet. But they needed to go back to why he came and so he tried it when Sandy calmed down some.

"So do you think you know what's up?" Sandy nodded to Jamie's question and was about to answer when the lion looked like it was going to yawn, which distracted the little man. What came next was much more than a distraction.

"**Why else do you think? I'm here to help Master out, not get rid of by an eight year old."** Jamie didn't think over why the lion was talking and went head on, on the insult really.

"Who said I'm an eight year old!? I'm twelve, almost thirteen, thank you very much!" The lion nodded slowly with a smirk creeping up on his face. So the smirks were real, Jamie thought with a small laugh. Jack must have taught him how to do that no doubt.

"**Oh, thirteen, huh? Even worse. So…are you doing this for a girl, or does this have to do with money—"**

"No! Jack's just my friend and I'm trying to help him out—wait, you can talk?!" The lion was now giving out its own way of laughing at the child's slow attempt of figuring out.

**"Does it always take you this long to figure things out?"** Jamie was once again going to interject but the Lion kept going.

**"Now, I guess you're an okay kid with how determined you are but it might lead to trouble sometime soon. I'll stick around for a bit, but if Master calls I'll need to be there quickly. Do you understand?" **Jamie nodded and looked at it suspiciously for a moment. The lion, which was now bored of talking, gave him a look that screamed, "What do you want?"

"Why didn't you at least tell me when I first saw you so I wouldn't freak." Jamie sat patiently for the answer and the lion did what it could before it got a shock of preteen anger.

**"Don't you think you would have freaked out over a talking lion? Master was there too you know. I don't think he would have liked it." **Jamie looked over at Sandy and saw he was looking at this scene like a teenager at a sitcom. He sighed and looked back to the talking lion.

"You'd be surprised. My life can be a bit…odd." Sandy got up now and moved to the lion. It didn't say anything as Sandy stroked his head and leaned his head into the touch. The little man nodded slowly and looked back to the boy. Now words appeared, so it must have been serious and detailed if he didn't use images.

"Jack must have done something dark or done something…different, for the lion to keep its original form." Jamie looked at the fading words and back up to the man who made them.

"So you're saying that Jack's the reason it's still dark?" The lion huffed at Jamie's comment and started to talk again.

**"Yes, blame it on Master for me not wanting to leave him alone when he's clearly is going through a life crisis and you were nowhere in sight to help him." **Jamie was ready to defend himself once again, but the lion clearly didn't want Jamie to defend himself and went on.

**"I still don't understand why Master wants to remember his past; it will bring him more pain than he already has. More pain from people like you." **It hissed the last of its sentence like it was a curse and not a statement and dematerialized away to somewhere, but most likely where ever Jack was.

"It's settled then," Jamie whispered. But he was dead serious about this and anyone with ears and a good brain would understand why it was a whisper. He was trying not to scream in rage.

"We have to find that dumb lion. And when we find it, we find Jack."

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

_The Russian man was putting his hand on Jack's shoulder, but Jack didn't mind. He was actually comforted by this simple act and wasn't bothered at all, which again, Jack didn't mind._

_He decided not to question anything in a dream, since they were—or should he say the other one before this one—always weird and didn't make any sense. He guessed that this was what normal dreams were like, normal things that didn't mean anything and in the end probably gave headaches._

_The elevator they were on slowly moved to a stop and Jack slowly walked off, not for fright, but to soak in everything that was this new destination. There were toys everywhere and the giant furry things were back, this time making toys of all sorts and—was that an Xbox? _

_Jack heard rumors that elves made things like this but from what he saw just now, they only made things worse by running around and jumping where ever there was a toy. Clearly, the people who thought elves made toys were horribly wrong or were very delusional. The man behind him now moved a bit faster so he was in front of him, obviously to show him where to go._

_"Jack! In here!" Suddenly the man was a few feet in front of him and next to an open door that wasn't even there a second ago. Feeling uneasy but sure, the teen followed slowly but went nonetheless. _

_He went through the door and suddenly the room changed it didn't have a desk anymore or anything like that. It was just blank white. But it felt like something was there, there had to be something around or he wouldn't know the walls and floors were white, some sort of light was coming in somewhere._

_ The room shifted again and again. Now things were filling the room, a brown couch, a silver lamp, the walls were now red, the floor was still its normal white but it seemed to go with everything. Jack moved around to look for something, like where that Russian man was! _

_What was he gaining with these jokes, the mirror, and the fake office that turned into _this_! Jack was about to scream in frustration or grab his staff when—HEY! _

_He turned a full circle once again. Someone took his staff and he had it up to here with being defenseless and confused. It made him…well, defenseless and confused, with a little mix of frustration. Finally he just sank into the couch which caused a yellow ottoman to appear. Jack groaned angrily which quickly turned into a gasp of surprise as his staff came back._

_He lunged for it and grasped the staff quickly gaining back his cool by pretending that never happened. Well, he could have if a child-like voice didn't start laughing._

"Funny! Do you need help?" _Jack could tell it was a boy; his voice was high-pitched but not pitched enough to be a girl. _

_"No, I'm fine. You want to tell me why you think this is funny?" He said this as politely as he could without grinding his teeth in frustration. He could, or could he say would, if he didn't hear the child's laugh again. _

"Oh, uh sorry, but you're just so _funny_!" _Now it was a quiet fit of giggles which quickly ended, the same as it began. _"Anyway, you just need to think, Jack." _The voice told him. He stood up quickly, gripping his staff tightly so his knuckles turned white. _

_"How do you know my name? And what do you mean by just needing to think?" The room started to blur. He was at the end of his dream, or hopefully just this stage of the dream._

"I'm sorry, Jack," _The voice said sadly, truly meaning its sadness. _"But you need to do this part on your own. Oh," _It sounded like it forgot something, but the boy's voice was slowly getting muffled, as if being covered by a hand or blanket. Yet he could hear him very clearly when he said, _"And I'm sorry about the headache that you might get…_now!_" _Jack couldn't ask any more questions. The room was now a swirl of colors and he could hardly tell if he was sitting on the couch or floating upside down. In a flash though, it was over._

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

**"Master! Master, wake up Master!" **Jack felt paws—really it was the claws but who was whining—digging into his side obviously attempting to wake up the already awake winter spirit.

"I'm awake, I'm awake. What do you want?" He sat up to keep the lion from trying to dig into him who didn't seem to change anything as it pawed and clawed at his leg.

**"You were mumbling and looked in distress." **That's when the headache came; honestly he wished the child had a better sense of time on when things would happen. Jack couldn't remember his dream, like the day before and he wished that he knew. But he remembered a child's voice…and nothing else?

"Hey, uh was there a child in here or…" The lion looked at him slowly, trying to think of what he say and finally thought of it.

**"No, there was no one here but me and Pitch." **Jack nodded and got up from the bed entirely to go see Pitch. Things needed to be straightened out and quickly. The lion followed behind him quietly saying something but wasn't really cared for by Jack he really did want answers.

"Pitch," he hissed out loudly, not wanting to upset his headache and wanting to be heard at the same time. "Pitch, where are you?" A nightmare horse ran over to Jack as if on cue and stood still only to neigh and stir impatiently.

Great, Jack thought angrily. He left and only wanted to give me a message via nightmare, just great. Jack waved away the nightmare and went back to his room only to be shoved back down to the ground by tough hands.

**"Master, you must calm down and think." **Jack looked up to see an almost exact replica of himself but utterly black and with the same yellow eyes.

"Forgot you could do that," Jack mumbled as he rubbed his hand on his forehead while getting up. The replica did nothing but spoke up once again.

**"Yes, and I forgot you were headstrong and never thought before you do anything." **So that's what he was here to do, remind Jack that he was impulsive. Yet, that couldn't be it since this took most of Jack's power, even if it was only for a few minutes. Funny that it never took anything from the lion but that was an idea to be pondered over later.

"Alright, alright. Let's skip the negative attitude and get to it. Now…what is it?"

**"You have been acting strangely for the past two days, there is something wrong isn't there?" **Jack nodded and glared at an invisible thing somewhere to his right which caused the lion to look at where he was glaring at only to see nothing.

"No. Just some really irritating people, okay?" Jack looked around for something better to do than just talking. "Hey, how about we just go outside, you know, to clear out heads or something." His duplicate looked at him quietly for a moment then nodded and flew up into the air.

Jack was going to do the same thing when he remembered he left his staff in his room. He raced back to his room and went over to pick it up when a familiar voice came out from an unknown source.

"Remember Jack, just think! Serious, it wouldn't hurt to think a little." The staff flew into his hands and sent a spark of light frost. Odd, it usually short nightmare-like frost and nothing but unless he tried hard enough.

"Crazy day huh," The voice prompted up again in a sing-song like voice. Honestly, Jack thought irritably. I'm starting to think this voice _wants _to make me furious! "But let's not get angry so easily, dude! You've got work to do and so do I, see ya!"

He looked around his room one last time and walked out feeling very unsettled. Too many things were happening for Jack's liking and it wasn't right. Why, after all these years, would things start to get weird now?

**"Master? Are—" **Jack waved his hand and quickly interjected.

"I'm fine. C'mon let's go now, I don't like staying inside." With that he shot into the air with his staff grasped tightly in his hand and his copy right behind him.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Sandy was now going through one of many closets in the North Pole looking for something that might be of help. Jamie was helping him search when he looked up from the chest he was looking in.

"Uhh, Sandy. Hey, Sandy," He said it loudly to gain Sandy's attention, which it didn't. Jamie sighed and got up to go shake the man from his daydreaming. It took about a minute and it didn't help Jamie's impatient manner that he picked up in the past few days.

The small man in front of him slowly closed the door and turned around with a look of dead set determination. It gave Jamie extra hope that they were actually going to find his best friend. He cleared his throat and spoke up.

"What are we supposed to look for anyway?" Sandy put on a look of confusion, then a thinker's face, which couldn't have been good. Then he put up a finger as if of exclamation—with an exclamation point floating over head of course—signifying that he finally remembered. And thank goodness for that. Forgetting something of this importance with a situation this big—especially for a spirit that was a guardian—was not the thing that would help them get anywhere nearer to the solution. And they were so _close _to the solution too!

"So…what is it Sandy?" He put his hands out in front of him and in his small hands appeared something like a book.

"It's a journal, of a famous wizard that helped North out a long time ago."

"Ombric," Jamie whispered, remembering some of the stories North told him of his old life. They usually endured sword fights or serious magic, which helped gain the attention of anyone really. The Sandman nodded and continued to give Jamie information.

"We need to find it so we can find a spell to help find Jack." A sudden thought came to Jamie and he gave a small smirk at his stroke of smarts.

"Why can't we just use one of the snow globes?" Sandy shook his head and the words appeared once again.

"We would need to know where Jack was for it to work, and we don't know where Jack is. Believe me, I tried." The smirk disappeared from Jamie's face and was replaced with a look of disappointment.

"It's okay, Jamie. We'll find a way some time soon. Now come on, we should really look." This time Sandy moved from the closet and walked out the door. Very confused, Jamie walked behind the man with him. They dodge random elves and low flying planes trying to get to the unknown destination. Before he was going to ask where they were going, a sudden weight came unto his shoulder. Jamie walked a few more steps more and Sandy looked back to start bursting into a silent laughter.

"What? Is it—" He looked around his shirt to see two little shoes attached to two little legs which had to be—

"Hiya, sir! Nice day we're having, huh?" The little voice chirped out happily. Suddenly the legs left and a small _Pop! _rang for a small boy with black hair, light green eyes, and a smattering of freckles to appear right in front of them. Sandy only came in front of him and shook a finger in a scolding way.

"I did'n' mean to scare 'em Dad. I was only trying to have fun." He gave a small pouting face and looked down at the ground tracing his foot on the ground. Quickly everything added up, to this problem at least.

"Sandy, this is y-your kid?" The man made a so-so motion and before he could give out another question, Sandy started to give out some words.

"In a way. I treat him like the son I never had but we aren't related of course." The boy wasn't paying attention and instead found it fun to look at some of the elves, who were giving out cookies.

"So he's a spirit huh," Jamie asked. Sandy nodded and looked over every few seconds to see what the small boy was doing. "If he's a spirit then what can he do." Images finally took the role of talking instead of the wispy words and showed a small flow of dreamsand over a sleeping child but there was no dream or a nightmare.

It was obvious what it all meant. The child could let people sleep but he didn't have the skill to make dreams and wasn't evil, so no nightmares either. A small crash came from a hallway near where they were standing with another small fit of giggles.

"I just wished Henry wouldn't destroy something every few seconds." So his name was Henry, Jamie thought as said Henry _Pop!_-ed back in front of the two.

"That train broke before I got here! I mean—" Jamie suppressed the urge to laugh at the child's antics for Sandy's sake. The man seemed a bit annoyed but not angry which showed it must have not been the worse Henry did. A quick montage of images came above the dream makers which made utterly no sense to Jamie but was easily understandable to Henry.

"Fine, I'll calm down." So Henry sat down on a cloud of sliver dreamsand and looked immensely bored. "What are you guys doing? Can I help—" Jamie hushed the kid and nodded. Henry put on a big smile and _Pop!_-ed once again back to Jamie's shoulders.

"Let's go, let's go! C'mon, c'mon, let's go!" Sandy looked back up to the child and smiled. They continued to go toward the destination when Henry took one of the air planes from the air and started to play with it while asking.

"Dad, where are we going? And," He pointed to Jamie's head and continued to talk and fly at the same time. "Who's this guy? He's pretty fun!" Sandy made another quick few more images and Henry understood easily. This was weird. It usually took Jamie a little while to understand what Sandy was saying even when he was using his regular speed of communication, so then how could little Henry?

"Sandy, how can Henry understand you when you bring out those images so quickly?" It looked like Sandy was going to answer when Henry hushed and started to talk on his own behalf. The kid was really wild card.

"It's because I've known him for a long time! And before you ask why I sound so awesome for a five-year old, it's because I've been immortal since forever, _and no, I didn't have to die either, Jamie._"

"Covering all the bases huh, Henry. Well, before I start asking how you know everything let's start looking for a journal. We've got a Jack to find." Jamie started to run, causing the little boy to bounce up and down in excitement and give a whoop of joy.

"Next stop, the Guardian's library!"

* * *

**A/N:** So I'm sorry for not posting last week but my teachers probably thought it be funny to see seventh graders work like hell before winter break only to come back on the sixth of January. Ugh! Anyway, lion—who is yet to be named, serious, I have a poll on my profile!—can talk and take shape like a heartless in Kingdom Hearts (that's where I got my idea), Pitch is somewhere, Jamie and Sandy are making a plan and Jack has questions. And we even have a little OC named Henry, again if you think Henry reminds you of anyone, tell me and I'll try to fix it. And **Bolding is for the lion,** _slanting is for_ _Pitch,_ and underlining for Sandy! Now let's get to those shoutouts!:

**Black Ice Community **Thanks a million for putting my story on my community, it really means a lot to me!

**A Touch of Black Frost Community **Thanks to you too for letting me be a part of your staff and letting this story be on there too. Again, this means a lot.

Well, that's enough for today, see you next week or in the story I'm trying to make, which might sorta suck...sorta. :D

**Count For The Day:**

**Review: **4

**Followers: **17

**Favorites: **6

**Words: **4,290

With Love and Cookie,

_Snowball_

**Updated On: December 28th 2013**


	4. Chapter Four: Its A Deal

_[Previously: "Covering all the bases huh, Henry. Well, before I start asking how you know everything let's start looking for a journal. We've got a Jack to find." Jamie started to run, causing the little boy to bounce up and down in excitement and give a whoop of joy. "Next stop, the Guardian's library!"]_

* * *

Jamie slowed down to a jog and then sped back up to a run when they got closer to the library. Henry complained quickly about this but stopped talking when he was reminded that he would probably never get to see the insides of it any other time. He _Pop!_-ed quietly off of Jamie's shoulders and in front of the door trying to tug at the handles.

"Dad! It won't budge, what's wrong with it?" Henry moaned as he pulled one last time only to fall flat on his butt. Sandy came over and quickly put him back on his feet as he put his hand on a random plank of wood poking out near the handle to the right of the door. It caused the door to slowly slide open. Jamie gasped in wonder as he slowly walked in and looked around. It was like looking at the biggest library ever, times two.

After Henry came in a second after Jamie, the door to slide back much more quickly than it had opened. The young boy ran through it and picked up a very big book from a nearby table then placed it on the ground. He smiled and started flipping through the book and laughed every so often at the pages.

"Whatcha looking at Henry," Jamie asked as he walked over. Henry quickly pointed to a picture of a giant beanstalk and a young boy climbing it, trying to get to a collection of clouds at the top. Jamie smiled and looked over at Sandy. "Well, that's cool. But how is this in here?" Henry flipped the page again and made a disgusted face when he saw the ogre.

"Dad said that this place will give anything to the people who come into it. But if you aren't a guardian or aren't with one, it'll suck you into this random universe or kill you," The child waved his hand in dismissal and continued to look at the pages. "Something like that. But we're with my dad, so we're fine and we get whatever books we want." The preteen stared in shock at the little one. He just said that like it was something that didn't matter but it actually did! He slowly backed away and tripped over a giant book.

"What the…" Jamie said quietly as he dusted off the cover to the old book. "_The Diary of Joyceline…_I can't make it , can you tell me what this says?" The elder walked over and inaudibly gasped at the cover as he took the diary from Jamie. He put it on a table and left it there then turned around to put up a few images. There was a tall man with a big beard—North obviously—and then a do not disturb sign—which probably means that they shouldn't look through it—and a question mark—wait, Sandy didn't understand something, most likely why the book was here since they both didn't ask for it. Jamie shrugged and continued to look for Ombric's journal. Mostly there were random things like, Tooth's diary or the occasional cook book, but it seemed like they were going nowhere.

Jamie slumped into one of the chairs at a table and looked at the diary again with small curiosity. A page of the book was poking out in an obvious fashion, literally asking for some attention. He looked around; Henry was still in some sort of trance, flipping through the pages and either laughing, gasping or very silent. Sandy was still looking for the journal but in a different section so no one was going to come out of nowhere and tell him not to do something. Just what he needed to look through something that he shouldn't.

He moved the diary closer to him and opened it to where the page was sticking out and smirked at the title. He pulled it out and looked it up and over for a moment. Henry _Pop!_-ed over next to him and pulled up a chair to stand on it and see what Jamie was looking at.

"Dad! We found it!"

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Jack walked around the park for a few moments before looking back at the nightmare behind him. It was still in its bodily form, which was really just a look-alike of him and was staring at the children playing a small distance in front of the two.

"You know, if you're going to stay like that forever, you need a name." The nightmare look alike turned to face him with a confused look on his face as he tilted his head slightly.

"**What do you mean by that Master?" **It asked him. Jack jumped over to the statue and stood on top of the man's head for a minute or two before jumping back down in front of the nightmare duplicate.

"I mean you need a name if you want to stay like," He gestured to the whole body of the nightmare. "That, you know? So….maybe Ben." He stood there for a moment and nodded with a small smile. "Yup, Ben will do."

The nightmare or Ben really, smirked widely and had to suppress a laugh as Jack did a backflip and got a snowball.

"**Anything else Master, before you start throwing—" **Ben tried to say before Jack flung the snowball straight in his face. He wiped the snow off to show a face of boredom and slight irritation, which Jack laughed at happily. Jack went down to pick up another when he was pelted with a few dozen snowballs and landed on his back.

"Nice job," Jack said quietly and raised a hand to give a thumbs-up. "Now, if you don't mind I'd like to _make _snowballs, not get attacked by them." Ben nodded and helped the teen up only shoved a handful of snow into his face.

"**You never said anything about regular snow, just snowballs." **Jack groaned and face-palmed looking around at the snowy-white surrounding and kicked at the ground in thought then stopped.

"I'm starting to regret giving snow this early. Well, let's just try to make the best of it so," Jack said slowly and knelt down to toss some snow at Ben when once again he was blanketed in snow. "You've got to be kidding me!" He laughed and stopped talking quickly when he saw a girl walking by. She looked oddly familiar even though she had a serious frown on her face like she was thinking about something important.

"**Master, is there something wrong?" **But Ben was ignored. Jack quickly walked over to the girl and spun her around to face him. He didn't bother to think about how or why she could see him but went straight to the facts, even if they were vague and odd.

"Why do I know you? Are you with that James kid?" The girl looked up at him confused for a moment before the gears almost visibly turned in her head.

"First off, I would hope that you would remember me Jack and second, his name is Jamie." Jack scoffed and bent down to talk to her again, almost as if he was talking to a small child. The girl glared in his face and kicked him in the shin with a small smile on her face when she saw him hope around in pain.

"And my name's Cupcake since it looks like you don't remember the last time you did that. What happened anyway?" Jack stopped hopping around on one foot and looked at her quizzically, like she wasn't really being serious.

"What do you mean last time? There was no last time." Ben walked up to Jack and quietly gasped. This girl was with the young boy that was trying to talk to Jack, Ben thought slowly. Hopefully she isn't trying anything crazy, or there will be trouble.

"Serious," Jack almost yelled at Cupcake when she shook her head. "We've never met before and I think I would remember if you kicked me like this. Now, what's up with your friend Jamie?" He sat down quietly on the snow and he motioned for her to do the same.

Cupcake uneasily sat down and stared at him calculatingly before she actually started to say anything. "Well, I don't know what to say. He's a nice guy really, and he's really scared for you."

Jack quickly cut her off there and now it was his turn to give her a small stare. "Why is he? I don't know him and I don't know how he knows me," He paused for a moment and gasped quietly, eyes widened. "He isn't my stalker…is he now?"

Cupcake quietly laughed and Jack started to glare at her half-heartedly. He was starting to grow a soft spot for her but he didn't know why. It was like, and pretty much was, meeting someone and suddenly knowing them. Weird honestly, but he was starting to become use to all of the mayhem that happened in the past two days so this was something really normal.

"No…he's not your stalker. Really he's more your friend than mine. No seriously Jack, you guys were inseparable and you knew each other so well." Jack nodded slowly, remembering when the Jamie kid said that he went to the boy's house multiple times in the past. But if she knew about this, maybe she knew his past! It honestly made obvious sense, if she knew about where he went then she must have known dozens of things about him. Jack did always want to know about his past, she would obviously help.

"So you can tell me about it, right?"

"Tell you about what?" Jack huffed in impatience and went on, acting as if he was talking to a child; he started to explain it all.

"I want you, to tell me all about," He trailed off for a moment in thought. Should he tell her about Pitch or not? Then he remembered about Pitch always telling him not to leave a trail, so the answer was now very clear. "About me before I 'disappeared'."

She looked around slowly and saw it was already getting dark; no doubt Pitch would try to take Jack away when he was so vulnerable in a time like this without his memories. Maybe later or else something might happen, but it had to be played right or Jack might throw a fit, like the last time. "Alright, umm I'll tell you later, okay?"

The teen in front of her nodded slowly and looked around quickly to see if it was getting a bit late, and it was. Ben, who was standing up at the moment, crossed his arms and looked at the sky before nodding down at Jack.

"Okay, tomorrow yeah?" Cupcake nodded and stood up to hastily wipe the snow off her pants.

"Try not to make it snow so early, okay Jack? Some of us like to see the leaves on the ground for Thanksgiving." Jack thought about that leisurely. Thanksgiving was in a few weeks, about four or five give or take.

"I dunno. Maybe I'll get bored the day before and give you guys almost a foot of snow or just give you some frost."

Cupcake playfully shoved him and started to walk home.

"Don't even think about it!"

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

"So…you're telling me that we can only preform this if we're this talented wizard or something?" Jamie said quietly. Henry walked back over—his other nursery rhyme book; probably the third this hour was starting to bore him—and picked up the book. He sat down in the nearest chair again and sat the book down in his lap.

Sandy nodded thoughtfully and looked at the journal before bringing up more images. The pictures explained that it required serious concentration, and lots of skill. Sadly, they had a hyper active five year old, a twelve year old that had no experience in magic, and magic spells usually needed to be said and not put into charade and hand-gestures.

"Then what about North?" Sandy shook his head quickly and went to get Ombric's journal from Henry to place back on the shelf. Jamie eyed the other journal, or diary really and quickly took it before Sandy found out. Henry gasped inaudibly which made him look like he actually was going to tell when he gave a mischievous smirk flash across his face and he went back to his earlier books, nursery rhymes. He stuck the diary in his jacket pocket and stood up.

"Well, I guess we have to go now, huh?" Jamie said slowly as he walked over to where Sandy was. It was full of giant books on their own shelves and Sandy turned around as he got a book of his own. The man nodded and walked over to the main part of the library to finally pull the reluctant Henry away from the picture book.

"Please Dad! It's just going to be this one book! I need to know if Jack goes down the beanstalk with the goose or not!" The young boy said as he tried to go back and pick up the book, but he was restrained from doing that when Sandy grasped his arm quickly. Instantly, Henry turned around and gave both him and Jamie the puppy-dog eyes. To Sandy it was probably nothing much but Jamie could see the obvious look that was thrown to him as a threat that he was going to rat him out, which couldn't happen, he wanted to see what that diary was about. So the only thing he could do was support the sneaky child in front of him.

"It's okay Sandy, I don't think he'll mess it up, you know, hopefully." Henry's face visibly brightened and he beamed at Jamie and mouth "You're okay now." Sandy looked between the two with confusion written all over his face but he nodded slowly and went to the door and out the door before anything else confusing happened.

"You're tricky, you know that?" Jamie said, voicing his thoughts. Henry nodded happily and walked over to his new favorite book.

"I know, it's one of those things that make me timeless, you know? I think yours could be courage…or determination that could also be called crazy awesome stupidity."

"What? There is no way you could think that I'd let you say that." And those words were one to regret, as when Henry picked up his book, the little boy flashed a wicked grin.

"Try me." And walked off, leaving Jamie to think that he was walking around with a person with a possible split personality.

"What are you waiting for," He asked waving his giant book a bit too quickly. "We have a Jack to find!" And opened the door to join his father in the hall. Jamie nodded absently and pulled out the diary from before. It must have lost a bit of its grime from when it was inside his pocket but it was still very hard to read. He'd have to figure it out sometime soon most likely, but it was obvious that he would. Because like Henry said, he had some crazy awesome stupidity.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

It was obvious that Jack was anxious, but he was never anxious about anything. It was as simple as that because the teen didn't do much of anything whatsoever. Pitch made sure of this to keep Jack as easy to follow and understand as possible. It wouldn't be easy to have the usual Jack Frost running around Burgess, and maybe even the world. There would be complication in that plan if such things happened; it would have been over years ago.

So adjustments were made, things happened, and here he was now, acting like the father of a teenager. He had been back for almost an hour and there wasn't even a gust of wind around. Hopefully the nightmare that tagged along with the spirit would keep him in check...but he hadn't seen it in a long time, hopefully Jack didn't do something wrong. Pitch had something for that nightmare to do but for the mean time he couldn't piece him in. But it wouldn't mind if this kid didn't figure out that there was a time when people were supposed to go home and at the moment, he was off that time with flying colors!

And when the first few arriving snowflakes came, it was amazing they didn't instantly melt under his angry glaze.

"That was so _cool_ Ben!" Well, who was Ben? "Maybe we'll even…oh, hi Pitch." If looks could kill, it was certain that Jack would have fallen to the ground seconds ago. The teen floated to the ground and lowered his head instantly with the hope that nothing might happen. But considering the few days so far, it obviously wasn't going to happen for a while.

"Where do you think I should start with this topic," He asked Jack with highly noticeable anger yet he looked quiet calm. "Oh, I know who on earth is Ben?"

"Nothing, h—"

"Nothing? Then why were you talking to him? On second thought, where is he?" The man's sneer grew much more irritated which unnerved the spirit slightly, now giving him boredom instead of fear like it used too. Pitch quietly noted this and decided it was just of the moment and nothing more.

"He's right here, c'mon Ben you use to be better at talking before, what's up now?" There was a small laugh that came from a dark corner that made even Pitch jump a little. Of course it was concealed to anyone, but the younger person next to him was not just anyone, so he obviously saw it, and was very surprised.

"You made Pitch scared, never mind, just stay there for a while and make noises at random moments, okay?" The laugh now increased in sound and a form started to come out of the shadows which now started to gain detail after detail as it slowly came through. Clearly it was almost exactly like Jack but there wasn't a staff being held securely in his hand and there was a thick seriousness that hung in the air around this one quite easily, but other than that, they definitely looked the same.

"Pitch, this is Ben, but you already know him because he's Lion." The Boogeyman understood quickly and gave a hard stare to 'Ben' waiting to see a response. Ben only fidgeted slightly but kept his seriousness with not a bit of fear detected. So it really was who Jack said he was. Not even in the slightest caring for the reason why 'Ben' looked like this he nodded and turned around to go to bed and get away from what ever was going on…here.

"Alright, I believe you…but you are grounded until further notice." Pitch said quietly yet his voice echoed through the room. He was only doing this for Jack's own good.

* * *

**A/N: ***Dodges random tomatoes and gets hit by an anvil* Umm, ouch?! I understand the food...but _the anvil _was a bit uncalled for...meh, it's been almost a month. Well, first update in 2014 and its not even that long...but we get some thoughts! Lion is now Ben but why isn't Jack fainting from Ben using all this energy? Will Cupcake get ticked off from Jack not coming, will Jamie find a use from that diary? Will we know why I'm asking questions?

**Guest-** Thanks a million for that, although I think the stories alright and I'm a bit of a...urm, what do they call people that seem to think they're a bit...oFf their rocker perchance? Thanks again anyway. :D

**Count For The Day!:**

**Reviews: **5

**Favorites: **8

**Followers: **18

**Words: **3,470

With Love and Cookies,

_Snowball_

**Updated on: January 22nd 2014**


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